Gnarwhal - Duane

01. I
02. New Booty
03. One Man Beach
04. Reconstructive Criticisms
05. Cats Evasion
06. I Never Really Got Into Cherries
07. II
08. Illusion Of Progress
09. Terminate (Instructional Video)
10. Asbestosis
11. Ole Faithful
12. In The Junk Sick Morning
13. Shaun Day Off
14. III

Gnarwhal is a fast, mathy, screamy band from Nashville, TN that is pretty darn hard to pigeonhole. The drums are spastic, the vocals are mostly screamed/ shouted, and the guitars are riffing almost constantly. The pacing of this album is pretty cool, as three tracks aptly named (I, II, and III) break up the frantic craziness of the album with short acoustic guitar interludes. Parts of this remind me of Pennsylvania two piece 1994!, but simply by having four members Gnarwhal are able to musically cover more ground. Even though the band is nearly always shredding, they manage to include bouncy, catchy elements to some of the songs that allow a little breathing room between riffs. It can be a challenge for any band to keep a listener's attention through a fourteen song full length, let alone one whose riffs have potential to be exhausting, but Gnarwal manage to duck and weave with a technical prowess that makes this a really enjoyable listen.

Reviewed by Justin.

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